


The Classified Information Conundrum

by marcelb



Series: Agent Penny [1]
Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-07-12
Packaged: 2018-03-11 03:50:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3312821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marcelb/pseuds/marcelb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard's taken because they think he has some classified information. They also have Penny and they're now threatening to "have some fun" with her. Something has to be done.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Leonard was in pain, but through it all, his only concern was for Penny. "Please, I told you. I don't know." He cried out when he was hit again, pretty much the same spot where they'd hit him quite a few times before.

"Never thought an egghead would be so hard to break," the man that Leonard had quickly deduced to be in charge of the group that had brought the two of them to his brand new office. "I guess we have to change plans."

Leonard felt fear gripping his heart when he saw the look the man threw over his shoulders to where Penny was tied to a chair. The fear only grew when the other men seemed to really take a liking to where this was going. "No! Don't hurt her, please!"

"Then tell me what I want to know," the man yelled.

"I can't tell you what I don't know," Leonard answered. He flinched when he suddenly found a blade in front of his face.

"Now, I can't hurt you too much, at least not before I have the information. But your girlfriend, that's a completely different story. I can do to her whatever the hell I want." He turned around and walked over toward Penny. "Let's start by getting her out of that dress."

Leonard strained against the ropes that were holding him in the chair, trying desperately to break free of the bonds and save his girlfriend. But the ropes were too strong to break; all it did was slice into him, but he wouldn't give up, couldn't let them do this to her. He shouldn't have asked her to accompany him to this fundraiser party.

The leader laughed at his struggle to get free. "Make sure he watches as I show his girl a good time." He turned back to Penny, and Leonard found his head held in a fixed position, directed straight at Penny. "You sure are pretty. I have to say, Dr. Hofstadter," the leader said, glancing briefly back toward Leonard. "I'm impressed you managed to hook up with her."

Leonard watched in horror as the man started to move one hand across Penny's body. He wish he could say something to stop this, but he didn't have the information they were looking for. "Please, don't," he pleaded again, his voice more of a whisper than anything else. "I really don't have the information you want. Please, let her go."

The man turned back, grinning broadly. "Right now, I don't even care if you do have the intel I need. I'm gonna have myself some fun with your..." He let out a grunt.

* * *

Penny had been waiting for their attention to be diverted. With the leader focusing on Leonard and his two henchmen grinning at each other, she hit the leader in his kidneys hard, her other hand immediately grabbing the knife he had been holding.

A second later the knife landed in the neck of the henchman standing closest to Leonard. She jumped up, bending over forward to stand on her hands, lifting the chair that was still tied to her legs up, then smashed it into the second henchman. She quickly untied her legs and readied herself, knowing the leader was probably getting up again. "Don't know about you, Sweetie, but I definitely had some fun."

He charged her, a sign he wasn't really trained at this at all. She easily evaded his attack, placing her own as he came beside her, her leg hitting him in the abdomen hard, as her right hand hit his neck hard enough that she knew he'd black-out for a few seconds. Not wanting him to get up that soon, she drop kicked him, hearing the sound of one or two vertebrae fracturing.

She finally looked around to see if all the bad guys were out of play and gave a satisfied nod. "Just like riding a bike." She then quickly walked over to Leonard, untying his wrists and ankles. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry, but I couldn't do anything until at least two of them were close to me."

Leonard was looking around completely stunned but finally focused on her. "What just happened?"

Penny shrugged, walking back to the two unconscious men, tying both of them up to make sure they'd stay put. "I took out some of the bad guys." She walked back to Leonard, crouching down in front of him, grasping his hands in hers. "Do you have some spare clothes? Like sweatpants and a t-shirt?"

He looked down at himself, as if trying to determine if he needed clean clothes that badly. "Uhm, yeah. Why?"

"Because as fabulous as I look in this dress, it's not very practical in the current situation. So, can we get to them easily?"

Leonard was looking around again, his eyes landing on the henchman closest to him, who was now lying lifelessly on the floor.

"Sweetie, don't look at him. Where are your spare clothes, Leonard?"

He pointed behind her at the door at the back. "In there. It's a storage room."

Penny gave a nod, helped him out of the chair and then took him with her as she made her way to the storage room at the back. She quickly changed into the sweatpants and t-shirt she found. Luckily she had decided not to wear high heels tonight, the flat shoes a clear benefit in this situation.

"Is that what you meant with the remarks about going all Nebraska on someone?"

Penny shook her head. "No, this was going all Langley on them." She waited until Leonard's mind caught up to her words. "I was a CIA agent before I moved out here."

"Before you moved out here? You were eighteen when you moved here!"

"Leonard, Sweetie, keep your voice down. We don't want to attract attention from the other baddies. But, yes, I was eighteen when I moved here. I enrolled into the Agent Development Program when I was ten and got my first mission at fifteen, so I was only really active for three years."

"And your parents let you do this?"

"Well, they don't really know. I mean, the Agent Development Program used summer camps as a front to train young agents like me." She looked around the office in search of something she could use later. She knew she had the knife, but she needed something for a backup. "Nobody was supposed to know. Besides, most of us thought it was just fun and games until one of the older kids was actually given a mission and succeeded. That's when all of us began to train even harder, knowing that at some point you might be asked for a mission."

She was a little disappointed to not find anything useful and retrieved the knife from the still unconscious henchman who'd gotten a chair in his face. She then turned to Leonard, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. "Sweetie, I promise I'll tell you everything later, but right now I have to get you out of here and save a bunch of other people." She sighed. "I'd kill for a gun, though."

* * *

Leonard pressed himself against the wall as Penny indicated him to do so, looking on in awe as she seemed to have slipped back into the well-trained secret agent she apparently had been. She glanced at him, placing a finger against her lips to tell him to keep quiet, winking and smiling at him before she quickly moved around the corner.

Leonard heard the tell tale signs of someone crashing into something and another one being hit. Only ten seconds later Penny walked back to him, a handgun in her hand. "That's two more," she whispered. "There's still seven of them walking around. Stay close, Baby, and try not to make any sounds when we move."

Leonard swallowed and nodded, suddenly the realization of being in danger coming back. He followed her around the corner, to the corridor where she'd taken out two more bad guys. His eyes flitted over the scene, noticing that both men seemed to be dead, one having a knife stuck in his chest, the other having a long gash across his throat.

"We don't have time to capture and secure them, Leonard. I can't have them running loose, because they'll alert the others."

Leonard looked at her and nodded, again swallowing. Penny had now killed three of their captors, out of the five she had confronted. He'd never thought her capable of killing someone. "Have you killed before," he asked.

"Yeah, but they were all bad," Penny answered. "Keep quiet, Leonard. I need to listen for the others."

Leonard gave a nod and stayed close to Penny, trying to make as little sound as possible. He was still having trouble wrapping his head around the fact that his girlfriend was a former secret agent and, from what he'd seen, a good one at that. He wondered why she wasn't an agent anymore. Had she been forced to quit, or had it been her own decision and, if so, why had she decided to quit? All questions that could wait until they were alone and not in imminent danger of running into the bad guys.

Penny paused as they neared another corner, her head slightly tilted to the side as she focused on sounds he couldn't hear. Leonard was standing a few feet behind her and yelped in surprise when she suddenly turned around and threw the knife in his direction. It sailed right past him and he heard a gurgling sound coming from right behind him. When he turned around he saw one of the men he recognised crashing the party earlier, the knife still sticking out the side of his neck.

Before he could react, Penny had yanked the knife out of the man's neck, just in time to take out the guy that had been right around the corner. The next guy she took out with a swift kick to the knee, the sound of bones fracturing very audible.

* * *

Penny retrieved the knife from the second guy lying in the corridor. She knew there were still four guys left, of which she could expect at least one or two still roaming the hallways; they'd need at least two in the auditorium to keep the other guests in check.

After walking a few feet she paused, hearing another set of footsteps coming in their direction. She held out a hand to Leonard, asking him silently to stay where he was. There wasn't enough time for both of them to go back around the corner, at least not without Leonard going into an asthma attack. She had to face him right in front of Leonard, in this hallway.

She walked quietly toward the approaching man, glancing backwards to make sure Leonard remained in his spot. She broke out into a sprint as soon as she saw him round the corner, giving him as little time as possible to prepare himself. She immediately knew this guy did have some training as he threw his knife at her as soon as he saw her. She snatched it out of the air as she jumped up, her fist at the ready to hit him on her way down.

But this guy knew how to defend against this attack and she found her wrist locked tightly in his hand. But she still had some momentum and she leveraged that to bring him out of balance, before letting her body drop down with her feet pushing up into his abdomen. He was lifted up from the floor, releasing the grip on her wrist enough that she could free it, and she used all her strength to flip him over her own body. He landed with his head into the wall, but Penny was already up on her feet, walking over and giving him a swift, vicious kick against the side of his head. He'd be unconscious for a while, and was probably going to have a severe concussion.

She then motioned for Leonard to follow her as she continued on to the auditorium, which she knew wasn't far. It took them almost two minutes, their progress slow as Penny frequently paused to listen or peek round the corners, but they finally arrived at the corridor leading to the auditorium.

Penny peeked briefly around the corner and cursed quietly. There was one man guarding the entrance, but it was too far to get to him without giving him a chance to defend himself. Even the knife wasn't an option from this distance. She had to lure him to their location, but how? An idea popped in her head and she turned toward Leonard.

She whispered in his ear to stay put, that she'd be back in a minute. She kissed him briefly, then took off in the direction they'd come from. It took her only a few seconds to find the last guy she'd taken out. In one fluent motion she lifted him over her shoulder, after making sure he was still out, then made her way back to where Leonard was waiting for her.

She walked past Leonard, winking at him in an attempt to keep him calm and not too worry about her. She brought they guy down, setting him on his feet; he had just started to come to, and Penny took advantage of that. She pushed him hard so he'd walk into the corridor where his pal could see him.

Disoriented, the man lurched into the corridor, then fell down to the floor, the best face plant Penny had ever seen. She readied herself, as she heard the other man approaching his fallen comrade.

"Dude, what happened?"

Penny smiled sweetly. "He thought he was a wrecking ball." The man turned around in surprise, his confusion a costly mistake as Penny's foot hit him hard in the solar plexus, a move she followed up by a vicious punch to the head, sending him hard into the wall behind him before sliding down to lay next to his buddy.

"See what's going on out there," Penny heard one of the men in the auditorium say and she quickly stepped back around the corner.

* * *

Leonard glanced at the three unconscious men shaking his head in amazement at the ease with which his girlfriend had taken out these men. He started following Penny toward the auditorium, but stopped when she motioned to him to do so, moving toward the wall, his eyes never leaving her as she looked around the corridor. Suddenly she jumped up against the wall, barely making a sound, gripping the grate covering the ventilation opening. With one hand she removed one of the drop ceiling tiles, before climbing up into the hole she'd created.

Leonard decided it was best to return to the other corridor, just in case they guy inside the auditorium decided to see for himself what was going on. He could hear the man barking instructions at his hostages, instructing them to form a ring around him. He then began calling out to whoever was out of the auditorium, informing them he'd have no trouble killing hostages.

The guy was yelling for maybe a minute or so before he suddenly stopped, mid sentence. Leonard could only guess as to what his girlfriend had done, or perhaps was still doing, but not long after he could hear a lot of people exiting the auditorium, clearly in a big hurry to get out.

"Leonard?"

Leonard looked around the corner when he heard Penny voice softly call out for him. "Here," he answered when he noticed her standing alone directly under the hole in the ceiling looking toward the crowd that was moving out. He walked toward her and she hugged him tightly.

"We better get out of here," Penny said after a few seconds.

Leonard nodded and followed her as she led the way to the exit. He was surprised to see the authorities weren't there.

"I guess nobody called them," Penny answered as he voiced his surprise. "Suits me just fine. Let's go home, Leonard."

Leonard nodded and unlocked the car. Penny stopped him from entering.

"Let me check things first, Baby," she said, dropping to the ground to look under the car. She moved all around the car, checking everywhere for, Leonard assumed, any type of explosive. "Okay, it's safe," she said, standing back up, smiling at him.

Leonard smiled back a little nervously. He had no doubt Penny knew what to look for, but before she had checked things out he hadn't even thought of the possibility of there being explosives. Now he was worried, despite Penny's assurance it was safe.

He closed his eyes as he turned the ignition and let out the breath he'd been holding when the engine just started and nothing else happened. He glanced at Penny who was looking at him in sympathy, but remained quiet.

He pulled out of the spot and drove toward the exit, barely missing a van that entered the parking lot just as he reached the gates. The rest of the drive was spent in silence, Penny resting in the passenger seat, her head almost leaning against the window. Leonard figured she was just winding down so he decided not to ask her about her past. Besides, a car ride didn't seem like the appropriate place to have such an important conversation.

"Sweetie, take Union."

Leonard frowned. "They're working on the street, it's closed right where we'd have to turn off. I'd have to drive around the block."

"I know, Sweetie. Just do it."

"Okay." He turned onto Union and glanced at her, noticing she wasn't actually resting; her eyes were directed at the passenger side mirror. She used the little button to roll down the window.

"As soon as I'm out, you close the window and drive toward the parking lot. Don't get out until I tell you it's safe."

Leonard felt himself tense up, wondering what exactly was going on. He turned left just before the road block. When he glanced to the side, Penny was gone. He hadn't heard a thing, she had just vanished. He quickly closed the window again, remembering Penny's instructions.

* * *

Penny rolled once and then remained flat on the floor, waiting for the van to pass. As soon as it did, she got up and sprinted through the alley, heading straight for the parking lot behind their building. She should be able to get there before Leonard, who had to drive around a little. She jumped up against the chain link fence, flipping herself over it and continued her sprint across the lot towards a position that would allow her to remain out of sight but close to Leonard's regular spot.

She crouched down the moment she saw a set of headlights turning into the small parking lot, immediately recognising Leonard's car. The van Leonard had barely missed followed closely and boxed Leonard's car in. Penny noticed one figure exiting the passenger side and saw the driver side door also opened.

Quietly she moved toward the two vehicles, making sure they didn't hear her. She walked around the van, still unseen by the two figures, one of which was a female Penny now saw. She kicked against the man's inside knee hard, sending him to the floor. Her second kick to the head had him down on the floor, unconscious for the moment.

Penny grabbed the woman's arm and spun her around against the van, following it up with a swift and hard punch to the jaw, causing the woman to almost drop to the ground, but Penny placed her hand around the woman's throat. "Why are you fol... 'Ronica?" She released her grip as she found herself face to face with her former handler at the CIA. "What the hell are you doing here?"

The older woman coughed, rubbing her throat and jaw. "Uh, bleeding internally, but I'll live. Damn, I forgot how strong you were."

Penny grinned. "Glad to remind you." She nodded to the man still laying on the ground. "New guy?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Former FBI, so basically useless."

Penny chuckled at the familiar joking about the other agencies' sub-par capabilities. She then called out, "It's okay Leonard," glancing back to see Leonard stepping out of his car.

"So, I guess you got out when Dr. Hofstadter turned right before the roadblock?"

Penny nodded. "Yeah. I saw you guys turn around after Leonard almost ran into you and you kept following us."

"Only to make sure Dr. Hofstadter was safe," Veronica assured. "Though we did wonder how he managed to get out of the university. Now I'm afraid to hear back from the other team."

Penny grinned, then listed the damage she had done. "Two tied in Leonard's new office, one dead in his office, four dead in various corridors, four wounded in the corridors and one tied up in the auditorium."

"Not bad, considering you've been out of service for almost ten years.

"I know, right?" Penny turned around to hug Leonard, who still seemed rattled by all this. "It's alright. Veronica used to be my handler."

The older woman chuckled at the obvious disdain on the last word. "We don't use that moniker anymore. Everyone of you kids always made such a fuss about it. Besides, everyone of you turned out to be worthy agents, so you really were partners whenever you were asked to go on a mission. You know, the agency can always use more agents, so..."

"You know I can't go back," Penny said. "And truthfully, I don't really want to go back. I like my life as it is, without any complications." She looked over at the guy on the ground as he started to moan.

Veronica pulled him up. "Welcome back, Ben."

"What the hell happened," he asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"My former partner. She's been out of the business for a decade," Veronica added, winking at Penny. "You're lucky you didn't end up like some of the guys she encountered at the university."

He looked at Penny. "Agent Development Program?"

"Yep," Penny answered, smiling sweetly. "Former FBI?"

He glanced at Veronica as she had trouble stifling a laugh. "I could've taken her if she hadn't surprised me."

Both Penny and Veronica laughed. "Great," Veronica said. "We'll ask all the bad guys to let you know before they attack. Besides," she added, "you can't beat me during training sessions, and Penny here did that quite a few times. She may have been out of the business for a decade, but I'm pretty sure she still remembers all her training."

Penny nodded. "I definitely do."

Ben assumed a defending posture. "Come one, you and me."

Penny raised an eyebrow, glancing at Veronica who rolled her eyes and gave a shrug. "You don't really want that," Penny warned him.

"Yes I do," he assured her, still in defense mode, but Penny's trained eyes noticed various issues with it. With her arms still around Leonard, she used her leg and foot to place three quick attacks on his midsection to get him on his knees, ending it with a kick to his head at minimum force. "You'd be unconscious and have a concussion afterwards if I'd used full force on that last one," she said.

Penny turned to Veronica, dismissing the former FBI agent. "I trust the agency will take care of the mess I left."

Veronica nodded. "Of course. I guess you don't want someone to stay close?"

"No, I think I got it covered," Penny answered. "But thanks for offering. See you 'round 'Ronica. Come on, Leonard. We need to look at your bruises and that cut." She tugged him gently toward the building's entrance. "And I promise I'll answer all your questions." She was a little apprehensive at having to talk about her past, but she felt she owed him that much. Whatever would happen, however he'd react, they'd work it out.


	2. Chapter 2

_Penny hoisted herself up, cursing herself for being too confident in her abilities. It had nearly gotten her killed and she could only guess what they were doing to him. She pushed the thoughts away, knowing they wouldn't do her any good in the current situation. She looked behind her, only to find her gun had already slipped far out of her reach. "Dammit." She turned toward the large building and sprinted toward it. Protocol dictated she should call and wait for backup, but chances were they'd be too late to be of any use._

_She glanced through a crack in the door, noticing rows of containers, realizing this must be the warehouse the bad guys used for their shady dealings. She didn't spot anyone close, but could see the shadow of someone walking on the far side of warehouse portion. She noticed the exit sign off to the side, and knew she had to get to that exit, and fast._

_Grabbing hold of the knife she luckily still had on her, she opened the door as quietly as possible, just far enough for her to slip through. Inside she looked around, listening for any sounds, but couldn't hear any. The shadow had also disappeared, so perhaps she had some luck._

_She walked as quietly as possible toward the wall with the sign, until a soft sound alerted her someone was there with her. "Shit." Penny dove behind the freight container located on her left side, bullets whizzing by a fraction of a second later. She waited a beat before peeking around the corner, noticing the assailant was not waiting for her, but she could hear him move. She assumed he was checking the other side and she took a chance to move further ahead. It was big risk, since there were several containers placed against each other, not allowing her to duck for cover should the guy change his mind and check on this side._

_She quickly went to her right behind another row of containers, pausing briefly at the opposite corner to peek around it. Not seeing anyone, she sprinted ahead. She heard the assailant curse when he realized his mistake, but Penny slipped through the door, pausing just long enough to close it and disable the electronic lock._

_Up ahead she heard a scream, and she increased her speed, afraid she was going to be too late. She ran through the corridors, frustrated at the sheer amount of corners to take, slowing her down at least a little bit. Finally she arrived in the room, but the sight that greeted her did not bring relief._

_It looked like he had been beaten to within an inch of his life, several cuts were visible even at this distance, one hand had no fingers left, the other hand lay on the floor, separated from his arm. One leg had been amputated, the other seemed to have multiple fractures. Everything seemed to slow down, as Penny sprinted toward the second assailant as the latter began squeezing the trigger of the gun he was holding against his victim's head._

Penny's eyes shot open and she cursed silently. She hadn't had this nightmare in years, but after last night's events it had returned. She knew she had screamed, knew Leonard was awake next to her.

"Penny, what's wrong?"

She turned around in his embrace, schooling her features to not let him see how severely this nightmare had affected her. "Just a bad dream, baby. I'm okay now." Noticing the dubious look on his face, she attempted to smile. "Really, I'll be okay."

"It's about your past, isn't it?"

Penny bit her lip; they'd talked about her stint at the CIA, but she had sugarcoated a lot of the stories and skipped over entire events. More specifically, she had evaded the subject of the cause of her departure from the agency. "Sweetie, this is not the time to discuss this."

"Penny, you know you can always talk to me about anything, right?"

She knew she couldn't talk to him about these things at all, at least not without some editing. But the offer was sincere and sweet, so she smiled again and nodded. "I know. Right now, I just want to be held."

He smiled at her as his arms closed around her. "That, I can do."

* * *

"Leonard, wait!"

Leonard turned around at Penny's yell, waiting for her to descend the flight of stairs. "You're up early," he commented after kissing her.

Penny shrugged. "I guess I just missed you next to me."

Leonard nodded, but knew that wasn't the reason. Yes, she probably had missed him, but that wouldn't get her out of bed this early, especially on her day off. Most likely she was worried about him, and if he was really honest, he was really glad she decided to accompany him. Last night's events were still fresh on his mind and despite Penny's efficient dealing with the attackers, he was still afraid others would come after him.

He noticed Penny started to walk a few paces ahead of him when they reached the last set of stairs, making it very obvious why she came along. Leonard kept quiet, trying to make as little sound as possible as he followed her, to allow her to listen if anyone was waiting downstairs.

Penny stopped at the bottom, briefly glancing toward the front door, before turning fully back to him, smiling brightly at him. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Well, I'm not allowed to work in my office today, but I am allowed to get some of my things. I need them, so I can at least finish my preparations on my next experiment."

Penny's eyebrow raised slightly. "You have to get it this early?"

Leonard shrugged. "I still have a lot of work to do on it." He took the last few steps, following Penny out the door. He watched as Penny checked his car, making him feel uneasy again. "Maybe we should take the bus," Leonard suggested, but Penny shook her head, still looking under the front of the car.

"No, I prefer if we have some control over our trip." She looked up at him, an apologetic smile on her face. "I know you're scared but I know what to look for, Leonard."

Leonard sighed, feeling bad for making her think he didn't trust her or her abilities. "Sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate you weren't capable."

Penny got up, apparently finished with her survey. "I know, Sweetie." She bit her lower lip. "Maybe I should drive?"

Even though she had made it a question, Leonard knew she wasn't going to accept a 'no' from him, and he retrieved his car keys to hand them over to Penny.

"Isn't Sheldon coming?"

Leonard shook his head. "No, he's certain last night's attackers had the wrong person and were really coming for him. He was not going to risk anything by going to the university, and was going to stay in the apartment for the foreseeable future."

* * *

Penny guided them toward Leonard's office, immediately noticing the agent posted in front of the door. His seemingly relaxed, uninterested stance didn't fool Penny for a moment, her eyes picking up the small signs telling her he was fully aware of his surroundings and ready to jump into action when needed. Undoubtedly, he had already picked up the same thing about her. She smiled at him, hoping he would understand she wasn't a threat. "Hi, we're here so my boyfriend can pick up some stuff he needs to work from home."

As she had expected, they were prevented from going into Leonard's office. Even Leonard explaining it was his office, showing his ID, didn't help. They were about to leave when Penny saw Veronica walk around the corner, accompanied by her, slightly limping, partner.

"Penny, Dr. Hofstadter," Penny's former partner greeted them. "Why did you come here?"

"Leonard needed some things, so he could at least work, but we weren't allowed in. I'm hoping you can help us?"

Veronica nodded. "Sure. I'm surprised you didn't force your way in," she added with a smirk.

Penny shrugged. "He's just doing his job." Together with Leonard she followed Veronica and Ben into Leonard's office. "Anything you can tell me," Penny asked, hoping to find out more about the attack last night.

"Nothing besides remaining vigilant for the foreseeable future."

Penny nodded, understanding they didn't know enough yet, but expected more people would try to get whatever information they thought Leonard possessed. "Yeah, I thought they might try something." She paused briefly. "Did any of them break and tell you anything?"

Veronica looked back at her for a second or so, before answering, "not yet."

"We'll get them to talk," Ben interjected. "You know we..."

"Agent Hanson, shut up." Veronica turned to Penny. "Maybe we should get you guys to a safe house."

Penny shook her head. "No. For one thing, you'd have to get everyone, Leonard's family, his friends, everyone to one or more safe houses. And you'll never catch the bad guys with Leonard safely tucked away in a safe house."

"Penny, do you think it's wise for your boyfriend to be the bait?"

Penny looked at Leonard. "I'd do anything to assure his safety, and yes, the safe house would accomplish that. But if I'm reading your earlier remark right, you don't even have a lead. I can't force him and our friends to remain in a safe house, without any contact with anyone not connected to Leonard, especially not if it might be for an extended time."

* * *

Leonard was surprised when two men stepped out in front of them just as they were coming up to their building's entrance. He took immediate notice of the two guns pointing at them, as well as the fact that Penny stopped slightly ahead of him.

"Dr. Hofstadter, come with us quietly or we'd have to mess up that pretty friend of yours."

Penny sighed and glanced back at him. "Why do they always threaten me to get you to do something?" She sighed again and shook her head. "At least they think I'm pretty."

Leonard realized that Penny's reaction was to assure him she was in control, as well as to unbalance the men.

One of the men took a small step forward, the gun pointing straight at Penny's face. "I have no problem with messing you up right now." He leered at her top. "Or maybe have some fun with you first." He glanced back at his partner in crime. "We can take turns?" The other guy grinned and nodded. Normally it would have made Leonard feel scared for her, but now that he knew what Penny was capable of, he knew she would take care of these two in no time.

Penny shrugged. "Alright." Her foot shot out and knocked the gun of the first guy out of his hand. She moved around him, holding her arm around the first guy's neck to keep him in place, as her other foot took care of the gun from the second guy. She followed it up by a kick to his abdomen as her other fist connected with his jaw, knocking him down, gasping for air.

She then took care of the first guy, hitting him in the kidney before releasing her hold on him to finish it with a roundhouse kick. She knelt down, patting his cheek. "Definitely had some fun with the two of you." She frowned. "Why were you inside?"

The goon coughed and gasped for more air. "We had a talk with Dr. Hofstadter's roommate."

Penny swore, knocked both of them unconscious, then got up and ran inside, Leonard following closely as the implication of them talking to Sheldon sank in. He was still on the third floor when he heard her opening the apartment door and yell for Sheldon, relief washing over him when he heard Sheldon responding that she had no right to just barge in there.

* * *

Leonard suddenly found himself pinned against a tree as Penny kissed him deeply. She had decided they should go for a stroll through the park, considering they'd been cooped up in the apartment for a couple of days now. It only took him a few seconds to reciprocate the passion from his amazing girlfriend, his hands on her back, but moving down toward her round ass.

Her hands were slowly moving down his body, her hand moving over his ass, before moving into the pant pocket there. He fully expected his ass to be squeezed, but instead her hand moved swiftly out of his pant pocket. It was only a second or so before her hand returned, this time moving over his chest.

He growled slightly; the entire session was turning him on big time, and he sincerely hoped Penny wouldn't move from her current spot, even though there really wasn't anybody around to see how much their current activity was affecting him. As the kiss ended he saw her looking straight into his eyes, hers twinkling, her lips forming a soft smile. "Well, that was nice," Leonard managed to say.

"Thought you might like it," Penny said, her smile growing. "And I promise, even though it was to distract the bad guy and retrieve the small blade I had hidden in your back pocket, I thoroughly enjoyed it."

Leonard frowned, then turned to look over his shoulder at Penny's slight nod with her head. On the ground, a few feet away, lay a man with a gun in his hand and a small blade sticking out of his throat.

"Focus on me, baby."

Leonard did as she asked, noticing worry mixed with a little bit of anger.

"I know this is hard for you, but we have to get out a little more often, so we can actually lure all of them out." She sighed. "And I really need to work on keeping them alive, so they can actually be interrogated. Sooner or later one of them will break."

* * *

"Mistaken identity," Penny asked, frowning at her former partner and mentor as she accepted a piece of paper, a transcript of a recent communication.

Veronica nodded. "Yes. They are after someone else at CalTech, someone who has designed several of our gadgets. We were contacted several weeks ago about a new invention and we now believe the line wasn't completely secure."

"I don't understand," Leonard interjected. "Why would they think it was me?"

"Oh God," Penny said, as she read the transcript. "Dr. H? Short? Let me guess, Leonard is the only short Phd whose last name starts with an H?"

Veronica nodded. "Yes."

"I assume you secured Howard and his wife," Penny asked.

"Howa... What?"

Penny glanced at Leonard. "Most gadgets in use by the agency benefit more from an engineer's experience. The only short engineer I know at CalTech is Howard, which starts with an H, so basically he's only been lying about being a doctor." She turned back to Veronica. "They're safe, right?"

Veronica nodded. "For now everyone seems to be focused on Dr. Hofstadter, so yes, they're safe. We've posted two agents near their home, and another agent for each at their place of work."

Penny nodded. "Good. I need to ask you a favor. I want to polish up on my skills. I need to be at the top of my game if I am to keep Leonard safe."

Veronica nodded and smiled. "I hoped you'd ask that." She turned toward Leonard. "I know you've seen her in action, Dr. Hofstadter, but Penny was one of the best, both in hand to hand as well as marksmanship." She turned back to Penny, giving her wicked smile and a wink. "Then again, that was over a decade ago."

Penny cocked her head slightly, returning the smile. "I haven't forgotten that much, you know."

* * *

Leonard had to consciously close his mouth when the two women walked toward the sparring mats that covered a good portion of the room. Penny had put on a very tight, black suit, showing off her curvaceous body. Veronica was similarly dressed, though not quite as form fitting as Penny. What struck him the most was how deadly the two of them looked. He was surprised when the two of them skipped over the warming up he had expected, immediately going into their little sparring match. Leonard looked on, fascinated how the two women were battling each other - and there was no indication either of them were pulling any punches - while simultaneously having a conversation.

He was proven they weren't holding back when Penny got hit on the mouth, splitting her lip, but before Veronica had a chance to gloat, Penny swept the older woman's legs from under her, following it up with fast and hard punch to the woman's kidney area. She then did a backflip, narrowly avoiding Veronica from retaliating by sweeping Penny's legs. And all the while they were having a conversation, about what Penny had been doing and how she had met him.

"Dude, forget it."

Leonard looked to the side, noticing two guys had joined him, one of them gesturing toward the women. "The blonde's hot, I admit, but you know she'd never be happy with a data analyst. She needs a real spy, like us." He indicated himself and his friend. "Maybe you'd have a chance if you man up. You know, learn how to fight better than the basic training."

He wanted to say he wasn't an agent, but before he could, the guy that had spoken stood up. "Come one, let's see what you got."

"Guys, listen," Leonard started, but had to stop talking when the second guy's fist hit him in the gut, causing the first guy to laugh.

"Dude, she'll never..."

Leonard couldn't help the grin when the first guy had to break of his sentence as Penny's foot connected to his back, trapping him against the wall.

"Care to explain what you guys were doing to my boyfriend?"

The second guy made the mistake of trying to help his friend. With her foot still holding the first guy against the wall, she used her hands and arms to keep him away with several connecting blows, though, due to her position, none were powerful enough to knock him out. She then released the first guy, allowing her to use her other leg to hit the second guy hard in knee, sending him down with the sound of bones crushing. The first guy had barely managed to turn around when her right hand struck out to grab his neck, holding him in place, her eyes shooting daggers.

"That's enough, Penny," Veronica's calm voice came, causing Penny to immediately releasing the guy, though her stance indicated she was ready to counter whatever move he might try.

Veronica pointed to the first guy, who was rubbing his throat and neck, the marks of Penny's fingers and thumb clearly visible. "You, get your friend to medical."

"Yes, ma'am."

Veronica waited until the two were out of the room, then chuckled and shook her head. "I'm guessing it's going to be a lot harder for me to find anyone willing to practice with you, once those two start talking."

Leonard had just used his inhaler, attempting to get his breathing back under control. "I was supposed to practice with _them_ ," Penny asked, as her eyes went over him, clearly checking if he was alright, causing Leonard to smile.

Veronica nodded. "Yes. I needed a way to observe you during combat, to better assess your skill level and pinpoint aspects that needed improvement. But I don't think you practicing with them is going to end up very well for them." The last was said with smirk and a wink. "Promise me that when I do find one or two who are willing to help out, you won't break their bones? We do need our agents able to do their job."


	3. Chapter 3

"Hi, guys!" Penny immediately hugged Bernadette. "What's going on?" She gave Howard a brief hug as well, then noticed his nervousness.

"Is Sheldon around," he asked, looking around.

"No," Leonard answered. "It's date night, so he's out with Amy."

Penny watched as Howard nodded nervously, still looking around. She found it adorable to see Bernadette gently rubbing his back, giving him her support and strength.

"Don't you have security," Howard asked. "Some muscle to, you know, protect you in case those guys that grabbed you a week ago are going to try again?"

Penny winked when Leonard glanced in her direction as he answered, "I have protection, Howard."

Howard nodded again. "Okay. Listen, I need to apologize. Those guys that came for you, were most likely looking for me."

"Why's that, Dr. H," Penny asked, moving to stand next to Leonard.

Howard looked around again, then leaned forward. "Well, you see, I'm..." He looked at Penny. "What did you call me?"

Penny smiled. "Dr. H."

Howard gaped at them. "They... They told you?"

Penny shook her head. "No, they wouldn't. However, when I read the transcript of your latest communication, I immediately realized it had to be you."

Howard sighed. "Yeah, I really messed up telling them that I worked at CalTech, especially now that it turned out the line wasn't secure." He looked around again. "So, where's the muscle?"

"You're looking at her," Leonard answered, obvious pride in his voice, as he nudged her a little.

Howards eyebrows shot up. "You?"

Penny glared, pretending to be hurt he didn't believe she could protect Leonard. "Yes, me. Want me to give a demonstration, Dr. H?"

He raised his hands. "No, no, that's alright."

Penny grinned. "You bet it is. But to further explain my status as Leonard's protector, and this information will not leave this room," she added, looking at Howard and Bernadette, who both gave a simple nod to acknowledge her demand. "I was a CIA agent before I moved to Pasadena."

"Let me guess, the agent development program?"

Penny nodded. "Yep, got recruited at the age of ten. Anyway, my training is what got us out of CalTech a week ago." She turned to Leonard in time to see him grin, again looking very proud.

"She's really good," he exclaimed. "You should've seen her. She's so badass."

* * *

Leonard, this time accompanied by both Howard and Bernadette sitting on his left side, looked on in awe as Penny was sparring with four agents, agent Veronica Miles on his other side scrutinizing every move Penny made. It was amazing to see her move so fluidly and confidently, blocking pretty much every attack the four were throwing at her. And the attacks she couldn't block in time, she still managed to minimize the force of by simply moving with the attack.

Penny had been given the instruction to only defend, Veronica winking as she explained she didn't want the match to be over too soon. The sparring match was now coming to the twenty minute mark, and Veronica had told Leonard earlier she intended to give Penny the go ahead to counter attack at that time, immediately following it up with a bet that Penny would take all four of them out within five minutes. Leonard decided not take her up on the bet, feeling confident Penny would indeed manage that.

Leonard frowned when Veronica nodded to the side, where four other agents had been standing and observing. The four moved toward the group and started to tag their fellow agents out.

"You're on, Penny."

"What," Howard asked. "These four haven't just been in a twenty minute all out sparring match."

Veronica just smiled and gave a small nod toward Penny and, as Leonard looked in Penny's direction as well, he saw her smiling.

"Hi guys," she said brightly, almost no indication she had been working hard for twenty minutes. "Wanna play?"

"Try not to break their bones, alright," Veronica requested, a clear note of amusement in her voice.

"Spoilsport," Penny replied as she blocked the first attack and followed it up with one of her own, that was unfortunately blocked as well.

Leonard watched with rapt attention as Penny stood completely still in her defensive stance, her eyes shifting around quickly. Suddenly her leg struck out at the guy on her far right, catching him by surprise, as Penny's foot connected with his gut, causing him to take a step back. Penny took one step after him, but then spun around on one leg, using the other to sweep the second guy's legs from under him, taking him by surprise as well.

Penny took a small step back, then found herself being held by the two guys she hadn't attacked yet, each holding one of her arms. The first guy charged her, but Penny jumped up, the two other guys clearly not having a good enough grip on her, hitting him in the face with her feet as she flipped herself over the two that were holding her. Even before she landed, she pulled the two toward each other, their heads colliding, knocking them out.

Now only one guy was standing and able to fight her, the one she had kicked in the face lying on the floor, blood coming out of his nose.

"Oops, I think I broke his nose," Penny apologised, as she blocked an attack from the last guy standing, her counter attack similarly ineffective. "Hey, this guy's pretty good," Penny remarked a few seconds later. "Is he your best agent?"

"He's very good in close combat situations," Veronica replied. "But, no, not my best agent." In a whisper she added, clearly for Leonard's benefit, "I wouldn't dare risking my best agents against her."

From the corner of his eye Leonard saw Howard turning toward him. As he glanced in the direction of his friend he saw the incredulous look on his face, similar to the one Bernadette had, though her attention remained on Penny.

"How can she have a conversation when she's fighting him," Howard asked.

Leonard simply grinned. "Told you she's good." He turned back to watch the match.

"Aw, thanks, Honey," Penny replied, clearly having overheard the whole thing. She blocked the attack the last agent standing threw at her, somersaulted over him, wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him toward the ground. Her free hand followed his head's descend to the floor stopping only a fraction of an inch from his head, his head only lightly touching her fist as the former bounced a little off the mat.

"Not even three minutes," Veronica commented in a low whisper, sounding a little miffed, as Penny resumed a defensive stance, surveying her opposition as if to make sure none were attempting to get up and try again. "Well done, Penny," Veronica said out loud.

Penny grinned and helped the fallen agents get up. "Thanks guys, that was fun," she said helping the second guy up. "Sorry 'bout the nose. I figured you saw my attack coming and would step back."

He shrugged as they walked toward Veronica. "I did see it coming, but misjudged both your speed and reach." He smiled. "These things happen sometimes."

Leonard stood up, immediately receiving a kiss from Penny.

"You liked watching that, didn't you," she asked, her arms still behind his neck where they had landed during the kiss.

He nodded. "I really did." He kissed her again, turned on by the fact his girlfriend could really kick ass. He was slightly disappointed when Penny broke the kiss rather quickly.

"Sorry, baby, but there's still some business to take care of." She turned toward Veronica.

"I thought you'd forgotten we were here," the older woman said with a grin.

"I admit that there have been occasions when I did kinda forget where we were or that we weren't alone."

Leonard noticed the confirming nods to Penny's statement from both Bernadette and Howard.

"So, on with business, then," Veronica said, motioning for Penny to sit down.

Penny sat down, in between Leonard and Veronica. "Yeah, so I won that match in two minutes and fifty-two seconds, counting from the second you told me I could counterattack." She held out a hand. "Under three minutes, cough it up."

Veronica rolled her eyes, but dug out twenty dollars out of her pocket. "There, satisfied?"

Penny smiled as she put the bills in her pocket. "Happy, yes. Satisfaction will come later," she said, rubbing her hand on Leonard's leg, winking at him, before turning back to her former mentor, her hand remaining on his leg. "Alright, bad points?"

Veronica shrugged. "Not that many, really. Looks like you really haven't lost any of your skills. The only thing I noticed is that you have a tendency to telegraph your intention, but that could be because I know your moves so well. Like I said, Alan is very good at close combat and can usually read his opponent, but he couldn't see your attack coming, even though I did. So, I guess it's not a really big problem unless you'd have to fight me."

Leonard thought Veronica was joking, but neither woman smiled. Penny nodded earnestly, saying, "right. I'll work on it. Anything else?"

The older woman shook her head. "No, that's it. You're still as agile and strong as you were when you left the agency. You're clearly still in shape, not even sweating after twenty-five minutes. And you still think on your feet, knowing how to get out of a situation, or turn it around." The older woman stood up and walked toward the exit. "You know how to get in touch with us. There's always going to be someone close by, just not too close as per your request."

"So, what do you guys think," Penny asked once Veronica had left the exercise room, her question mostly directed at Howard and Bernadette.

"You even kept track of the time," Bernadette asked, her voice even higher than it normally was.

* * *

Penny was panting, finding herself looking straight into Leonard's eyes.

"Same bad dream," he asked, concern evident in both his voice and his expression.

Penny simply nodded, attempting to hide her emotions using the techniques she had learned from the age of ten, but failing miserably.

"I really think you need to talk about this."

She wanted to tell him she couldn't, when he lifted his hand to forestall her argument.

"If you can't tell me, talk to someone who will understand, to help you come to terms with this."

Penny sighed, deciding that Leonard was right: she needed to talk about it. "There's gonna be some editing," she warned him, before scooting over to be as close to him as possible, taking a few second to simply enjoy the comfort of his embrace. "About a year before I left the CIA, I was given a new partner, another teen agent like me. Scott was a bit like you, always talking about the nerdy sci-fi geeky stuff, really smart - but not nearly as smart as you."

She was quiet for a bit, trying to determine how much she could tell. "Our last assignment together didn't go entirely the way we had planned."

_"Dammit," Penny cursed quietly, glancing to the left to see Scott had managed to duck behind cover on the other side of the path they'd been following._

_He winked at her. "Told you we'd end up in a deep pile of dren," he answered in a whisper, grinning slightly as she rolled her eyes. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why he would insist on using the weird curse words from that science fiction show he seemed to love so much._

_"That's pile of shit, sweetie, and I never said we wouldn't," she answered. Peeking around the corner of the low wall she was hiding behind she let out a small sigh. "Looks like we haven't been spotted, but there's no way in hell we can get closer without being spotted, let alone inside the building." She looked at him. "Options?"_

_He shrugged slightly. "We could double back and try from a different angle, but that takes a lot of time we don't have and there's no guarantee we can find a better approach vector."_

_"Let's make that our backup plan, then," Penny said, to which he simply nodded as he peered around his wall. "Don't see any other option," her said after half a minute. "It's either double back and lose precious time, or continue on this path and risk being detected sooner than planned."_

"That's when I got over confident in my skills and suggested I'd go distract them, while he tried to sneak into the complex. He told me it was a bad plan, that it'd be better to stick together, but I pushed my idea. Well, I simply took off when he kept saying no."

_Penny pretended to be out of breath as she approached the group. "Someone, help me, please," she said. "My ex is following me, tried to rape me," she said haltingly, keeping up the pretence of being both out of breath and scared, while gesturing behind her. The fact that the guys were all looking at her top, more precisely at the exposed part of her boobs, was not lost on her, and actually expected. It was the easiest way to distract guys, and she had no problem with taking advantage of her physical appearance._

_"You mean that guy," one of them said, pointing to the side where she knew Scott had been hiding. Two more men came up, dragging an unconscious Scott in between them. Penny got hit in the face before she had time to react, but did not let the pain distract her. Instead she went back into agent mode, ready to inflict some serious pain on the group._

"The fight was actually pretty short," Penny said. "I had kinda lost track of my surroundings and found myself near a pretty steep hill, almost falling down when one of my feet didn't find the ground where I had expected it to be." She sighed. "Two guys took advantage of that moment, one guy hitting me really hard causing me to almost black out, though not entirely. They simply pushed me over the edge and left me. Luckily I had managed to grab on to a small branch and didn't slip all the way down."

She knew she was crying now, knowing that she was coming up to the hard part. She decided to skip the part of how she found her way into the complex. "When I finally found where Scott was being held, he had already been tortured." It seemed best to not mention what had been done to Scott in great detail. "I entered the room, just as the bad guy pulled the trigger and killed Scott." She really broke down then, burrowing her face into Leonard's chest. "I couldn't save him. He got killed because of my over confidence."

After a long time, after Penny had calmed down, Leonard finally spoke. "Penny, it's not your fault. The job the two of you had was dangerous, and there's no saying things had gone differently if you had listened to him. Or it could've been you."

"No, you don't understand, Leonard. Scott was an agent, yes, but his talent was with tactics, not the fighting part. He had basic training and if it had come down to one on one, he might have had a shot. I left him basically defenseless, by taking off like that." She sniffled. "That's why we were paired, so I could learn how to strategize from him, and he could learn to fight better from me." They were silent for a while, Penny actually feeling a little better to talk about it.

"What happened to the guy who shot your partner," Leonard asked quietly.

Penny sighed. "He got away, when I went to see if I could help Scott, trying to tell myself he was going to survive." Looking back, Penny felt it was probably for the best he didn't, considering what had been done to him, and she'd only seen the physical damage.

* * *

"You hid a gun in this apartment," Leonard asked, thankfully in a whisper.

Penny nodded. "Uh huh. It's the thirty feet rule," she whispered. "A good agent always keeps one or more weapons within a thirty feet radius," she elaborated at his confused expression. "Seeing that I sleep here quite a lot, well, eventually I sleep," she added with a wink and a smirk. "I had to hide one in this apartment, or more precisely, in your bedroom." She got up and moved toward the bedroom door to listen for their uninvited guests.

"What do we do about Sheldon," Leonard asked.

Penny bit her lip, thinking about their options. It was clear that whoever had entered their apartment was here for Leonard, but the first bedroom they'd check would be Sheldon's. There was no guarantee they wouldn't just shoot the lanky scientist, once they'd determined he wasn't one they were after. "Stay here, Leonard," Penny instructed, before quietly opening the door and slipping into the hallway. She remained close to the wall, listening for their footsteps. There were two distinct sets, but they appeared to be in the livingroom.

As Penny slowly moved toward the end of the hallway. The footsteps had stopped and she could hear the distinct clicking of the laptop keys, suddenly realizing they were attempting to get the information they were after from the laptop, apparently finding that a safer and easier way than trying to take Leonard.

"Why would they use a password on their home laptops," she heard one of the men whisper, clearly frustrated.

"Wouldn't you, when you're hiding some government secrets," the whispered reply came. "It's clear they're both hiding something, so possibly the other one is also working for the government."

"Well, whatever they're hiding, I can't get in without the password. We'll need both of them. Just kill the blonde if she is here. We don't need her."

Penny was now standing close enough and she hit the one sitting at Leonard's laptop in the neck with the butt of her handgun, placing the muzzle against the side of the head of the guy at Sheldon's laptop. "Kill the blonde, really," she asked in a whisper, hoping Sheldon was still asleep and trying to keep it that way. "Get up." She pushed the muzzle harder against his head when he made no move. "Don't make me repeat myself," she added.

"What's going on here?"

"Sheldon, go back to your room," Penny replied, worried her friend would get hurt.

"Excuse me, but you don't live in this apartment, Penny. You can't tell me what to do in my own apartment."

"Dammit, Sheldon," she exclaimed, not turning around so she could keep her focus on the two bad guys. "This is not the time to argue!" She heard something breaking through the window at almost the same time she felt something hit the back of her neck. As she fell to the floor she pulled the trigger on her gun, shooting the guy still sitting at Sheldon's computer desk in his ankle. Then everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

"Leonard? Are you okay, buddy?"

Leonard barely registered his friend's question, blankly staring ahead, not seeing anything. Not his friends, not the flashing lights underneath their seats, nothing registered with him. The only thoughts going through his mind were the vision of seeing his girlfriend lying still on the floor, before he was forcefully taken. "They killed her," he whispered, repeating it over and over.

* * *

Regaining consciousness at the slap to her cheek, Penny heard Veronica say, "Wake up." It still took her almost a minute to finally open her eyes. "You can stop slapping me now," Penny ground out, when Veronica was about to slap her again. She tried to sit up, but found it nearly impossible to move.

"The effects of the tranquilizer will wear off in a minute or so," Veronica assured her.

It took Penny twenty seconds before she was able to move into to a sitting position. "Where's Leonard," she asked.

* * *

"That's preposterous," Sheldon said, scoffing, and causing Leonard to roll his eyes. "Penny may be lacking femininity and she does possess a stocky build, but I refuse to believe she's some secret agent. Secret agents are supposed to be sophisticated and intelligent and Penny is neither."

"No, it's true," Bernadette said. "We saw her sparring with four other agents and winning."

"Your short friends are right."

Leonard turned his head to where the voice had come from and saw a creepy looking man, accompanied by a tall blonde.

* * *

"No."

Penny glared at Veronica, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I wasn't asking, I'm telling you."

"Penny, all agents posted to protect everyone in this case were killed, except you. They didn't take Dr. Hofstadter and _his_ close friends, they took _yours_! _You_ were the target, not any of them."

"Doesn't change the fact they have Leonard," Penny replied. "And you're crazy if you think I'm just going to stay here and do nothing." She tried to step back when she saw a hand coming her way, holding a cloth, but she was too late and quickly lost the battle to remain conscious.

* * *

"Ah, I actually used to be a CIA agent," the man who had introduced himself as Gareth Franklin said. His speech was cultured, the cadence oddly soothing, despite the creepiness of the man himself. "My specialization lay in interrogating but at some point the agency felt my techniques were... excessive."

"I still don't get what that has to do with us," Leonard responded.

He smiled at Leonard, making him seem even creepier. "With you," he said, gesturing to Leonard and rest of the friends, "virtually nothing. If it weren't for the closeness you all share with one former CIA agent, you would not even be in this situation."

Leonard looked down, becoming sad again. "If you're referring to Penny, I have bad news. She was killed, trying to protect us."

"No, no, Dr. Hofstadter. Penelope wasn't shot with a bullet like the other agents employed to guard all of you. No, we used a tranquilizing dart to assure she would not interfere in your capture."

* * *

"Not so tough now, are you?"

Penny looked at the guy casually leaning against the wall of the walkway towards the bathroom and the two bedrooms. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Penny said, rolling her eyes when she realized it was asshole number one who had decided to pick on Leonard, during her first sparring match with Veronica. "Flying solo today," Penny asked, referring to his partner in crime.

"Yes, my partner couldn't make it today."

Penny smirked. "So, they asked _you_ to keep an eye on me?"

He shrugged. "You just got lucky before. Besides, you're handcuffed and your legs are tied." He started walking toward her. "But I do believe I owe it to my partner to return the favor."

Penny raised her brow. "I'd think you owe an apology to Leonard and me, but whatever."

"I really don't get how you could be happy with someone like him. He's short, unskilled..."

"Oh, he's very skilled," Penny interrupted him. "And he never makes me want to pick the lock on the handcuffs." She saw his eye flick down to where her wrists were hidden by the chair and her body. Not wanting to disappoint him, she swung her arm around, her fist connecting with his knee. As he stumbled back, grabbing his knee, Penny quickly untied her legs and stood up, her fist hitting him in the side of the head, knocking him unconscious.

* * *

Leonard's initial relief at hearing his girlfriend was still alive, was quickly replaced with fear for her, his friends and himself.

"Fortunately I have some friends in high places, and was informed in time of my impending arrest. However, the CIA found me rather quickly and sent Penelope and her brainy partner to capture me."

It suddenly clicked in Leonard's mind. "You tortured and killed Scott."

If Franklin was surprised, he hid it well. "Indeed I did, Dr. Hofstadter. As I explained earlier, I really did enjoy my job of interrogating the subjects I was given, but that night showed me another aspect I had never before experienced. The reactions of a caring witness. Granted, Penelope arrived rather late, only moments before I ended his life, but to witness the strong emotions was thrilling."

"And now you're going to do the same to me?"

Franklin simply nodded. "That is the plan. However, this time I will wait until Penelope is here to witness it all."

Leonard chuckled. "You're going to be dead before you get a chance to lay a finger on me."

"Au contraire, Dr. Hofstadter. You see, your friends are sitting on top of very powerful bomb. A very fine laser grid above them will prevent anyone from crossing over to this side. If anything passes through two laser beams the bomb will go off immediately. In addition, I have a dozen friends who will keep Penelope occupied." He gestured behind them as a door opened and a dozen men and women entered, taking up positions in front of the group. "More importantly, the CIA attempted to keep Penelope away. The longer it takes her to get here, the more worried she'll be and, by extension, less focused and effective."

"What if the CIA doesn't let her come, assuming she even knows where we are."

"She knows where we are," Franklin said. "She shot one of the men that came for you in the ankle, using a special bullet, containing a miniature tracking device. Nicely designed, by the way, Mr. Wolowitz. And as for the CIA not letting her come, she's already escaped them and is on the way here."

* * *

Penny slipped out of her own apartment, having retrieved a few necessities. She heard some of the agents ascending the stairs, even heard Veronica complain about the broken elevator. Penny quickly and quietly moved toward the roof, jumping across to the building beside this one, the three feet gap hardly an issue. She smiled as she remembered lying to guys about slipping and skinning her knee, none of them even noticing her knees had been perfectly fine. She retrieved her lock-picking kit and picked the roof access door's lock quickly. She decided on taking the stairs, just in case agents were posted at the elevator exit downstairs, though she doubted that was the case.

Once she reached the ground floor, she briefly peeked around the corner, smiling slightly when nobody was there. She made her way quickly toward the back door and slipped out. On the parking lot, she chose the vehicle closest to her, happy that the car was quite old, old enough that the chances of it being electronically safeguarded against theft was minimal. She made short work of the car lock, slipped inside, and ducked under the dash to hotwire it.

Using her phone, she called up the app that allowed her to track the bullet's GPS tracker. Five of the six devices were at North Robles, and she quickly disabled tracking those. The other one was only two miles away, and Penny sped up, ignoring the speed limits and most red lights.

* * *

"Ah, how nice of you to join us."

Penny was shocked at the sight that greeted her as she entered the rather small room. She was faced by a dozen bad guys. Behind them her friends were tied up and gagged and behind them, Leonard had been singled out, tied but not gagged, and behind him the man she hated the most was smirking at her.

"And this time you are actually in time to witness."

Penny folded her arms across her chest, pushing her emotions to the back of her mind. She couldn't allow herself to think too much about the situation, and especially not the fact that the cause of her nightmares was now threatening her current boyfriend. "Well, well, well. _Former_ agent Franklin. How nice of you to drop by."

"Always a pleasure to visit an ex-colleague. What do you think of my set up," he asked, gesturing around. "Closest to you are a dozen, hand-picked former CIA agents, all well-versed in hand to hand combat. Behind them your close friends are sitting on a nicely designed bomb. Any of them loses more than a few ounces of weight: boom. You try to move past them: boom."

Penny tried to look indifferent, but it was hard to ignore the real danger threatening to kill her friends. "You do realize that when they go 'boom', so will you, right?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps, but I'm fairly certain you wouldn't do anything rash if that would result in the demise of your friends, especially that of your boyfriend, That brings us to the final distraction. He's going to become really well acquainted with my specialization, not unlike your young partner did ten years ago."

"Why are you doing this?"

He laughed. "Why? Have you already forgotten about what happened eleven years ago? The reason I was forced out of the agency?"

Penny let her anger slip through. "You were deliberately feeding us bad intel, so we would capture innocent people you could torture for your own pleasure, knowing full well they didn't have any information to give."

"Don't we all have hobbies, Penelope? But the point is, you and your young partner figured it out and told the head of the agency."

Penny tilted her head to the side a little. "Then why don't you let my friends go? You got me here now."

"No, no, you're still missing the point of this exercise. You see, you taught me something ten years ago. It's fun to torture someone, I admit, but you showed me how much more fun it is to have someone who cares about the subject actually witness it. Unfortunately you only were able to see the final moments last time, but today, you get to experience much more."

"I could just kill you where you stand," Penny said. "I don't really have to move past the explosives under my friends to accomplish that."

Infuriatingly he grinned broadly again, shaking his head. "Sweet Penelope, do you really think I have not foreseen such an event?" He turned his head to the side and gave a small nod. Moments later Penny saw a tall blonde walk into view, positioning herself in front of agent Franklin. The woman's stance and cool, detached expression screamed 'CIA' to Penny's trained eyes.

"You know," Franklin said, "since we were colleagues and I do have a heart, I will go easy on your boyfriend the first, say, two minutes. It will be painful to him, but I won't do anything permanent. Think you can deal with a dozen agents and defuse a bomb in that time, sweet Penelope?"

Penny's threw her two knifes into two of the agents. She had immediately started a sprint and reached the group before they had responded to her sudden attack. Her right leg connected hard into the abdomen of a third agent as she yanked both knifes out of the two agents. One knife was planted into a fourth agent and yanked back immediately. The actions so far had taken less than ten seconds, but by now the other rogue agents were prepared, and were starting to fight back. Her leg swept around, knocking another agent down, and Penny somersaulted away, to gain a little more room.

Two agents managed to grab her wrist, though they had mistakenly both grabbed her left one, leaving the right one free to drive the palm of her hand into the nose of one of them. Her left foot connected with the ankle of the other agent still holding her, the sound of bones breaking clearly audible, and she followed it up by driving her fist into the side of his head. She kicked backwards, her foot connecting to the head of the next rogue agent approaching her. Unfortunately, the contact wasn't enough, and the agent grabbed her leg. Penny immediately spun around, placing her other leg on the other side of the agent's neck and both hands on the floor. She squeezed her legs together and spun her body around again, forcing the agent down. She immediately sat up and drove her elbow into his throat.

In a quick move she was back on her feet but she staggered to the side when someone managed to land a blow to the side of her body. Her latest attacker had immediately grabbed hold of her arm, but Penny jumped up, placing her feet against the nearby wall, and in a few steps landed on the other side, sweeping her leg around while still in the air to hit it against the head of another agent, who stumbled into the one holding her arm. Once again free, Penny immediately jumped up and spun in the air, her outstretched leg connecting with head of the agent who had only a second ago held on to her arm. The force of the kick snapped his neck and had the added bonus of his head smashing into the other agent.

It had taken her less than a minute to take care of half the rogue agents standing between her and her friends, but she didn't have the luxury to boast about it to her enemy. Her eyes traveled over the remaining agents, each of them in a defensive stance. She immediately noticed one of them wasn't exactly stable on his feet and she assumed that was the agent she had kicked in the abdomen early on in the battle. Penny slowly started to walk around them, maintaining both distance, as far as that was possible in the confined space, and a defensive posture. Three agents approached her immediately, but Penny had seen it coming, and somersaulted over them, her feet hitting two agents behind the three. She immediately rolled forward, her feet connecting hard against the back of the one in the middle, both fists hitting the other two were it hurt the most. With those two doubled over in pain, she quickly grabbed their heads and smashed them together. She was up on her feet in a flash to deliver the final blow to the agent in the middle, then turned around to watch the still remaining agents.

There was one agent missing and Penny turned around quickly, barely able to block the missing agent's attack. She placed her counter attack on the big guy, but found it wasn't as effective on him as it had been on the agents she'd dealt with so far. His fist connected to her jaw, and she staggered back half a step, before putting up her left arm to block his second attack, her right fist hitting his kidney as hard as she could. She noticed his eyes briefly glance behind her and he leaned a little to his right. Penny quickly raised her right arm and turned in the direction just in time to block the attack a female agent, who had somehow obtained a wooden fight staff. Penny remembered her martial arts training and had been very proficient with the fight staff; she grabbed hold of it and kicked the woman in the abdomen, managing to separate the agent from the staff. Penny immediately turned back and hit the big guy in the side of his head, hard enough for him to fall down. She then turned back to repeat the move on the woman as she tried to attack Penny again.

Penny twirled the staff in her hand as she looked at the only agent still standing, smirking slightly at the nervous look on the woman's face. Penny struck her with the staff as she let herself be distracted by the door suddenly opening. She then assumed a defensive stance, facing the just opened door. She was relieved to see Veronica enter, but quickly turned around to see what was going on with Leonard and her friends.

Much to her surprise, the tall blonde had handcuffed Franklin and released Leonard. She held up a small device in her hand. "I grabbed this," the woman said, "from this guy." She nudged Franklin. "Looks like he wasn't going to take any chance of the bomb going off with him that close. I've deactivated the triggers."

Penny gave a curt nod to acknowledge the woman's explanation. "Leonard, are you okay?" At his nod, she turned to her friends. "Guys, everyone alright?"

* * *

Leonard stood a few steps behind Penny as she knelt down near the grave, placing an object there, though he couldn't see it clear enough to determine what it was. He could hear her talking.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here for over a decade." She was silent for a while. "We finally got him, sweetie. The bastard won't see the light of day, ever." Her fingers traced the letters on the headstone. "I'm so sorry I caused this..."

Leonard took a few steps and placed his hand on her shoulder, offering her support.

"He went after my boyfriend," Penny continued after a minute. "Forcing me to be an agent again." She sighed and looked down briefly. "Franklin was going to do the same to him as he did to you."

Leonard knelt down when Penny indicated him to do so. She kissed him as soon as he did, giving him a small, sad smile.

"I quit the agency after... well, all the crap with Franklin. They asked me back, but I can't. I could never fully trust the higher-ups, would question every mission they'd send me on. I had an offer from a freelance security organization. I'm thinking about accepting it."

Leonard turned to look at her, the information all new to him, but he remained silent.

"I kinda missed the action, you know," Penny continued, then sighed. "I don't know, really. I don't even know if I could trust _them_. Plus, I have this amazing boyfriend now, and I wouldn't want him to worry over my safety."

Leonard gently squeezed her shoulder, right in that instant deciding that if she was going to be a spy again, he would just have to trust her and her training. He'd seen her in action against a dozen former spies only a week ago and even the double agent who had freed him had been impressed.

"I brought you a figurine from that stupid sci-fi show you loved so much. I found it a few years ago and decided to buy it for you." She smiled slightly. "Sorry, it's not mint in box anymore." She chuckled. "Leonard taught me that, you know? Why all you nerds keep things in the box you bought it in."

Leonard smiled and then frowned as he looked at the figurine, not recognizing it at all. "What show is he from?"

Penny turned to him. "Farscape. This guy is Dargo, but with an apostrophe after the D." She turned back to the headstone. "I actually watched all episodes after Scott had died," she said, before going quiet for a minute or so. "Would you be okay if I took the job," she asked.

"Penny, I'll support you no matter what you want to do in life."

She turned to look at him, smiling. "Promise me that if you feel it's too hard on you, if you find yourself worried too much, you tell me?"

"I promise."


End file.
